Letha’s Asian Health Secrets

I have been honoring my need for rest, warmth and comfort as the weather is colder and days shorter. Winter is a time to nourish your dreams and imagination. Nerve-soothing oils such as sesame are rejuvenating. Apply it to your skin all over and inside the nose. Allow the rich proteins to soften your complexion and penetrate your senses with renewed vitality for 15 minutes. Then  wash with warm water. If you have acne or a ruddy complexion, another fine oil to use is Argana, made from a Moroccan tree bark. It feels more cooling than sesame and is also rejuvenating. Increase warming spices such as ginger, pepper, clove, cinnamon and hing (asafoetida for bloating) unless you have an ulcer. The tastes to stress in winter, according to Ayurveda, are warming, salty and sweet, less bitter. Bitter (coffee and black tea) increase nervousness and pain.

I have been greatly enjoying adding Peruvian maca powder to my morning mild green tea or warm water. It tastes a bit like yam, a comforting root vegetable that grows high in the Andes. It stimulates the pituitary to enhance the functioning of the entire endocrine system–for enhanced energy, breath, adrenal strength, and libido. It is hormone-balancing for men and women. People in Peru eat the cooked root with meat and potatoes and also use it as an aphrodisiac. It is also said to reduce menopausal complaints. I find it comforting and mood-lifting.

Here is a detailed plan to help you stay warm, happy and healthy in winter. It also applies to the elderly who may feel chilled, weak and anxious. Much of this advice comes from Ayurveda. However, I do not agree to using vacha oil, as usually suggested by Ayurvedic physicians, inside the nose. Vacha (sweet flag) oil from India has been found to increase cancer. I prefer using plain, light sesame oil in the nose. Anything you put into the nose affects your sinus and brain: Soothe and rejuvenate, don’t irritate.

Winter Advice: Stay Warm and Cozy

As temperatures drop and light becomes scarce, certain health problems become troublesome. A drop in temperature can cause bronco-constriction in asthmatics, says Dr. Louis Jacques, a community medicine specialist at the Montreal Chest Institute in Quebec, Canada. “They may need to take a puff from their inhaler before going out, or prevent their exposure by staying inside.”

Weather also influences heart disease and diabetes. Peter Liu, a cardiologist at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre in Toronto, Ontario Canada, cautions his patients, particularly weekend warriors who want to play hockey like teenagers, to reduce activity when temperatures drop. ” In colder weather, blood pressure goes up 3 or 4 millimeters of mercury because blood vessels constrict, making the heart work harder.” Blood viscosity also varies with the weather. In a cold front, viscosity goes up. In the long run, that means that people with diabetes could have more difficulty managing their blood sugar on certain days.

Traditional Eastern medical systems—Ayurveda and Chinese medicine—offer a natural defense against harsh winter weather and stress: Stay warm, enhance energy and immunity and promote longevity with correct foods, herbs, body treatments and activities. The great advantage is they offer practical methods and materials for staying well, for promoting health at home. How much better to avoid the clinic by supporting vitality!

Ayurveda warns that winter may increase Kapha—lowered energy and metabolism resulting in increased body weight and lethargy. Mucus congestion, sinus problems, indigestion and cough may result. Kapha can increase heart problems, swelling and pain from edema. Warming, cooked, spicy foods and beverages, sweating treatments, sesame oil massage, and rest are advised to tone vitality and reduce stress and pain. Vata—nervous irritation, anxiety and depression—are increased for many people in cold dry weather and windy days.

Ayurveda teaches how to stay warm, calm and comfortable daily:

• Avoid eating after 10PM
• Get to bed early and sleep seven hours or enough to feel rested.
• Upon waking, scrape your tongue clean with a stainless steel spoon; brush with an Ayurvedic tooth powder or paste, such as Vajradanti, which tightens loose gums
• Massage sesame oil on face and neck, on gums and into the nose to open senses.  After 5 minutes rinse with warm water.
• Drink warm water or mild tea to stimulate elimination
• Sitting in the tub or on a plastic chair in the shower, rub warm sesame oil over the body.  Lubricate openings in the body (ears, nose, lips, nipples, and genitals) and follow with a hot shower. Be careful leaving the shower because oil makes it slippery.
• After the shower and bowel movement,  yoga is recommended. The sun salutation and poses that open the chest, throat, and sinuses counterbalance Kapha by removing congestion in the respiratory system. Other good poses are the fish, boat, camel, lion, bow, locust, shoulder stand, and headstand.
• Follow the yoga postures with heating pranayama, such as fire breathing (bhastrika). Follow with a relaxing breath.
• Meditation can follow, if it is part of your morning routine.
• Have a substancial breakfast or brunch such as oatmeal, cornmeal, barley soup, kitchari, or a warm grain cereal. If you prefer a light Gandhi breakfast of fruit, nuts and mild tea, take at the same time vitamin D3 and calcium to insure proper absorption. (Don’t take those supplements with a heavy meal. They need to go quickly into the gut for maximum absorption.)
• Useful herbs taken meals include those that balance Kapha and support vitality. For example, Trifala, guggul, Hingoli pills, Hingvastak or hing added to dishes.
• An hour after breakfast, it is advised to drink a cup of tea made with 1/2 tsp. dry ginger, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and a pinch of clove tea to improve circulation and eliminate mucus, while maintaining agni (digestive fire). If there is a Pitta condition, such as ulcers or gastritis, avoid this tea and follow a Pitta pacifying (cooling) diet while keeping the external body warm.
• Lunch: Steamed vegetables, warm soup with ghee and whole wheat unyeasted bread. People with wheat allergies can have quinoa. Cook with heating spices such as cinnamon, black pepper, and cloves to aid digestion.
• Calcium-rich foods such as sesame seed and lassi should be stressed at lunch.
• A nap after a meal should be avoided in winter, as it slows metabolism.
• Dinner should not be late (5 to 7 PM).
• Rubbing sesame oil on the soles of the feet and on the head is advised to calm Vata during this or any season.
• Dress in warm earth colors such as yellow, red, and orange to keep the fire element active in your energy field.
• Time-tested herbs Mucuna, Ashwagandha, Shilajit, Amalaki and Gotu Kola are proven adaptogens that help slow the aging process. Mucuna is a source of L-dopa useful for Parkinson’s. Ashwagandha is recommended for muscle strength, memory and insomnia. Shilajit eases stress on internal organs and is rejuvenating for sexuality. Amalaki (amla) is astringent, rejuvenating for hair, skin, and reduces excess acidity. Gotu kola improves circulation memory and concentration.

TCM: Increase sexual fire, strength, immunity to illness, and avoid depression

Traditional Chinese medicine teaches that the winter season challenges kidney/adrenal energy, joints and bones, and defensive energy (the natural immunity in our energy field) with resulting aches, lethargy, weakness, and asthma, diarrhea, or sexual debility. Although Ayurveda and Chinese medicine may explain the origins of health problems prevalent in winter differently their recommendations are similar: Physical excesses, cold foods and iced drinks, cold showers, and excess chatter should be avoided. Conserve and enhance energy and promote wellness.

Qigong exercises in winter aid bone strength with “bone breathing” techniques and tapping the limbs with fine metal rods to increase deep tissue circulation. Massage and acupuncture ease pains, troubled circulation and quiet the mind. A primary emphasis is placed on warming, grounding, nourishing herbal tonics that tone vitality and defensive energy.

Some medicinal herbs, like ginsengs, astragalus, and mushrooms are added to daily soups for the entire family. Chinese ginseng (Korean red ginseng; Panax ginseng) is warming and stimulating to the endocrine system. Astragalus increases T cells and cures weakness and night sweats. Mushrooms such as shiitake, reishi reduce the risk of cancer and inflammatory arthritic pain.

Depending on a person’s symptoms, Chinese herbal combinations may contain precursors to testosterone to ease back and leg pains and correct low energy and sexual debility. For example: Panax ginseng, epimedium, cistanche, morinda, tang kuei, eucommia bark, rehmannia, cardamom and cinnamon. Warming, stimulating herbs (the first five) are balanced with moistening, nourishing rehmannia; digestive cardamom. Cinnamon enhances circulation, reducing chills and lethargy.

All in all the emphasis in traditional Asian medicine is to overcome harmful effects of inclement weather by creating a warm, healing balance within the body and mind.